What I notice in all these studies is that there seems to be almost no attempt to describe the process by which screen users, or social media users, become depressed. I mean, I watch NBC Nightly News on Youtube, and I suppose I could choose to experience that as depressing; I choose instead to find it disconcerting. Similarly, I could find the challenge of sorting out and interpreting the data in Haidt's arguments to be so frustratingly difficult as to be depressing; instead I just find myself losing interest.
In other words, events don't cause emotions; people choose them, either consciously or unconsciously. Maybe it makes more sense to help them to make better choices, than to solve the problem by removing their access to the world.
What I notice in all these studies is that there seems to be almost no attempt to describe the process by which screen users, or social media users, become depressed. I mean, I watch NBC Nightly News on Youtube, and I suppose I could choose to experience that as depressing; I choose instead to find it disconcerting. Similarly, I could find the challenge of sorting out and interpreting the data in Haidt's arguments to be so frustratingly difficult as to be depressing; instead I just find myself losing interest.
In other words, events don't cause emotions; people choose them, either consciously or unconsciously. Maybe it makes more sense to help them to make better choices, than to solve the problem by removing their access to the world.
Indeed, well-said. This is a problem that calls for a scalpel, not a sledgehammer.